HDD read problems

I have two Seagate HDD's in my computer, a while back one of them died so I replaced it with another Seagate HDD given to me by a friend that has seen relatively little use. When I fitted the new drive everything went fine and I installed the OS on it. However as soon as I restarted the computer froze at Starting Windows. I refitted the drive however and it started fine. Though i've started to have problems again recently. When i'm in Windows I can hear the HDD make a single beep and then the system will freeze about 10 seconds later. It recovers after about 20 seconds or so usually but this is obviously a pretty big inconvenience. I've made sure all the cables are connected properly, i've tried changing the SATA cable and using a different power cable. However nothing seems to fix the problem. Also sometimes when i've changed the cables it won't get past the post stage and hangs on Verifying DMI pool data. Is this simply another HDD on its way out?

Thanks in advance

 

Could be another bad HD but probably not.
Check your ram, start the system with only one stick in, check each ram slot.
Also look on the motherboard for signs of damage to the capacitors, they will look domed upwards if one is blown.

 

Agree with LDee here usually when you hear beeping PC sounds this is related to RAM having issues with something and i know you changed the hard drive but sometimes RAM is picky. Take one ram stick out and see if the sound is there once you start up the computer again.

Also what appears on your screen???

 

Thanks for the replies sorry it's taken me a while to get back to both of you.

The computer was left on for the past two days as it was running and I didn't want to risk shutting it down and it not starting back up again. However it did freeze again today, however it's been starting up successfully but then making that beep noise and then hanging. Sometimes it recovers, sometimes it doesn't. I have it running at the moment with one stick of RAM in, it hasn't frozen so far but then it's only been switched on for 10 minutes or so with this setup.

I can't see any obvious damage on the motherboard. When the computer fails to start it either hangs on verifying DMI pool data or on a completely black screen as it's posting.

 

The beep is a code not related to ram specifically,you need to check mobo manufacturers website for what the code is,it's telling you there's an issue with hardware the amount of beeps i.e one short -two long - one short or just one short

 

Sorry I haven't been clear enough about the "beep" noise.

It's not a beep like an error code beep, but a beep is the only way I could really describe it.

 

Well same problem has occurred using only one stick of RAM. There are 4 SATA connectors on the motherboard, only two of them are being used at any one time. There is a spare IDE connector left on the ribbon cable connecting the DVD drive, worth looking into trying an IDE drive then?

 

Had an issue with a dell i bought,found a site that suggested removing all hardware leaving only mobo & power supply,connect monitor to onboard graphic then reboot,the beep with any luck now will have changed,turn off connect one ram stick reboot again beep should change,reconnect mouse & keyboard & reboot,the next bit i can't remember if it's dvd drive or hdd,i'd go hdd as at this point you don't need a dvd drive,run comp it if you can't hear your beep perhaps a couple of days or just continue adding each piece until your hear it unless it's does it when it feels like it then run the bare minimum.Obviously my issue was different & turned out to be a BIOS issue however it should work for you